This invention relates generally to medical devices and methods of use and more particularly to needle guide devices and methods of use with ultrasound transducers.
It is a common medical practice to use a guide for releasable securement onto an ultrasound transducer to percutaneously guide a needle or some other puncture device to some desired location within the body of a patient. The patent literature includes various devices for such applications, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,052,396 (Wedel et al.), 5,076,279 (Arenson et al.), 5,623,931 (Wung et al.), 5,758,650 (Miller et al.), 5,941,889 (Cermak), 6,379,307 (Filly et al.), and 7,087,024 (Pruter).
CIVCO Medical Instruments Co. Inc., the assignee of the subject invention through its related company CIVCO Medical Solutions, sells needle guide systems for use with ultrasonic transducers constructed in accordance with the above identified Filly et al. patent. Such systems consist of a custom reusable, non-sterile biopsy bracket or adaptor and a disposable, sterile snap-on needle guide. The bracket is sold under the trademark L17-5 multi-angle bracket and the needle guide is sold under the trademark Infiniti needle guide. The bracket is in the form of a ring-like member arranged to be releasably secured about a portion of the distal periphery of the ultrasound transducer. A flexible plastic, sterile isolating cover is then placed over the adaptor and the transducer to isolate those components from the patient and to provide a sterile field. The needle guide is then releasably secured, e.g., snap-fit to the adaptor, so that a portion of the cover is interposed between it and the adaptor. The needle guide is arranged to enable the physician or other health care provider to guide the needle or some other penetrating device to a desired location within the body of the patient. To that end, the needle guide basically comprises a pair of spaced apart plates. The needle or other puncture device is arranged to be placed between the plates and oriented at any desired angle to the central axis of the transducer so that the needle's tip can be inserted to any desired depth of penetration. The visualization of the positioning of the needle at the desired location is accomplished by the operation of the ultrasound transducer. The snap-fitting of the Infiniti needle guide to the L17-5 bracket is achieved by means of a pair of aligned grooves at the bottom of the bracket, which are arranged to receive respective projections or bosses located on the bottom of the needle guide to enable the upper portion of the needle guide to be pivoted toward an upper portion of the bracket. The upper portion of the needle guide is in the form of an under-cut arcuate recess. The upper portion of the bracket is in the form of an arcuate surface, which is arranged to mate with the undercut recess in the needle guide. A finger projects from the upper portion of the needle guide adjacent the undercut recess to enable the physician to grasp that finger during the pivoting of the needle guide toward the bracket so as to deform the undercut recess slightly, whereupon the curved surface of the bracket can snap-fit into the recess, thereby releasably securing the needle guide to the bracket with the isolating cover interposed therebetween.
While the aforementioned needle guide system of CIVCO Medical Solutions is suitable for its intended purposes, it still leaves something desired from the standpoint of needle or other puncture device guidance. In particular, the CIVCO Medical Solutions needle guide system does not provide a predetermined path for the needle or other puncture member to take, i.e., the needle or other puncture member can be oriented at any angle between the plates of the needle guide. Thus, a need exists for a needle or other puncture device guidance system for use with ultrasound transducers that facilitates precise positioning along at least one predetermined path. The subject invention addresses that need.